How to turn innovative first-year engineering students into world-class engineers

First year students from the School of Mechanical Engineering have been competing in the annual Buggy, Glider and Basket Ball Arm Design Competition as part of the Design & Manufacture module. The module is designed to introduce students to a number of essential skills required to succeed in industry, such as team working, problem solving, innovation and creativity.

This module also requires students to work in small teams to design and build either a powered buggy, glider or powered arm that will emulate shooting a basket (depending on their course). Each team must follow a design brief which also stipulates that the cost of materials used for making the buggy, glider or arm should not exceed £5.

Ultimately, the aim is to compete in a competition sponsored and judged by Shell Research Ltd. Ian Taylor, Technology Manager from Shell comments on the competition, “I think the Design & Build Project for 1st Year Engineers is excellent. It encourages students to work as part of a team to solve a real design problem, and the element of competition, whereby teams race their machines against each other, adds to the excitement. Shell have a long history of working with the Mechanical Engineering Department (in the areas of combustion and tribology) and we are happy to give a modest amount of sponsorship to such a worthwhile initiative, which is also a lot of fun for the students and staff alike.”

Typically, a cash prize is awarded for the overall winners. However, to encourage novel designs and manufacturing quality, there are additional prizes for teams that demonstrate design innovation and manufacturing excellence. Perhaps most importantly, the competition helps to motivate students and also provides an exciting climax to the module. And, of course, it’s also a lot of fun!

Patrick, whose team won the prize for 'Innovative Design' tells us more about the project and how the team intend to spend their winnings.

“The aim of the project  was to design a buggy/glider/basket ball arm (depending on the type of engineering studied) and to compete them to find the most successful design. Though the project wasn't really about coming away from it with a £5 buggy but instead was all about trying to teach us design skills, teamwork and organisation in order to develop us further as engineers.

The striking thing about the design of our buggy was that it only had one set of parallel wheels rather than the conventional two; though I must admit our initial designs also had a set of smaller front wheels but after testing and making improvements to our buggy we decided to modify our design.

We still haven't spent the prize money as finding a day that's good for everyone is proving quite difficult but I believe the intention is to go out for a decent meal, which will serve as a great reward for our efforts.”

Patrick is currently studying MEng Mechatronics and Robotics, to find out what Patrick thinks of his course so far visit Student Profiles